Friday, 31 October 2014

How times change: you rarely see Catholic nuns in the streets here these days but you see more and more Chinese people (from mainland China) opening shop in downtown Avignon. In the past seven years I've seen six shops open, mainly clothes shops (one restaurant). Most shopkeepers speek very little French. I'd really like to know more about this new immigration trend in our city.

(Just to set things straight, the lady here is not the shop keeper, she was walking in the street with her husband, who seemed to be lagging behind ! - Notice the teenager busy with her cell phone, another common sight today!)

A sticker signed Hugo was placed on a
drainpipe just across from the primary school located rue Frédéric Mistral in downtown Avignon.
Above a portrait of Frederic Mitterand you can read the following : "The profusion of very attractive and immediately available young men puts me in a state of desire that I no longer have to repress or conceal. Money and sex, I'm at the heart of my system." Frederic Mitterrand, excerpt from his book "The bad life". Honestly I'm not sure what the intention was.Frederic Mitterrand, nephew of former French President François Mitterrand, is a writer, TV producer and film director who was also Culture and Communication Minister from 2009 to 2012. Openly gay, he wrote "La mauvaise vie" in 2005, an autobiographic novel about his sex life in Patpong, Bangkok's hottest suburb. I personally find the quotation quite disturbing but F. Mitterand neither lives or works in Avignon. In what way can he be a threat to the young children who live around here? And if the sticker has nothing to do with the school across the street, why is it there?

Sunday, 26 October 2014

I photographed this little bugger in one of my rose trees early September, it was bright green. I saw it again in the same tree early October, it had turned to brown! I'd never heard of insects changing colour as autumn comes! Who will help me identify it? It looks like it belongs to the locust family with striped eyes as a main characteristic.

Friday, 24 October 2014

Help! The weather has been so mild for the past several weeks that my little cherry tree, too young to know better, was tricked into believing it's spring: it's blossoming in fall! The first frost will cut the adventure short but what will become of it when real spring comes? Will it blossom again?

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

The ride along the gravel road on the sea dam in the Camargue national park is stunning enough but when you tie your bike to a fence and head for the beach you're in for another breathtaking experience. The shore offers miles of deserted beaches where pieces of driftwood are the only landmarks.

We chose to leave our bikes behind but some people took them onto the beach, riding in the wet sand and sometimes even crossing shallow creeks. I'm not sure salt and bike go well together but what a great image it makes...

Monday, 20 October 2014

Last Sunday was announced as the last day of the amazingly warm period we've been experiencing for the past two weeks or so. With afternoon temperatures in the 77-80° range I still haven't put my summer dresses away - a rarity for late October! Yesterday we took advantage of those miracle conditions to go cycling in the Camargue along the sea dam starting from the seaside village of Saintes-Maries de la mer. The distance to the Gacholle lighthouse is 30km return. Wildlife protected inside the Camargue National Park includes a large population of pink flamingoes : make sure you take your binoculars with you, or your telelens. If cycling isn't your thing, horse riding is another option. Enjoy!

Sunday, 19 October 2014

In a sunny spot just outside the city walls, a man sells his wares (sunglasses, belts and I'm not sure what else). The spot is quite good since tourists necessarily walk past on their way from the Popes Palace to the Pont d'Avignon. For a larger view, check out this link : fellow blogger Michel Benoit published just a few days ago two photos of the area, one from a hundred years ago, one taken recently.I love his "a hundred years later" series about Avignon. They're a gold mine for those interested in the history of our city (all in French).

Friday, 17 October 2014

Rue des lices, AvignonDid you know Avignon had an American Shop? I've never been inside and I wonder what it sells exactly. To my American friends : how do you perceive such a shop from your side of the Atlantic?

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

In the plains between Sarrians and Beaumes-de-Venise at sunrise.
This blog participates in Skywatch Friday, a community of bloggers who look up to the sky every Friday - click to see more beautiful and interesting skies around the world.

Monday, 6 October 2014

I don't know at what speed but I suspect smartphones are killing postcards : how many people today send a selfie by phone rather than a postcard by snail mail? There still were clients for those last Saturday though. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see typical Avignon views. When was the last time you sent a postcard from a holiday destination? And who did you send it to?

Yesterday, Saturday afternoon. At the conclusion of their 121st national congress, the firemen have organised a fire engine parade just outside the ramparts - imagine how popular this has been! The weather is incredibly warm for a 4th of October, crowds fill the streets, stroll idly, fill up terrace cafés. Others buy take-away drinks : water, fruit juice, coke, smoothies... on Popes' Palace square, the rubbish bins are clearly out of sync. Maybe it's time to think big.

As a rule, there is no grape harvest on Sundays but last weekend there was frantic work in the vineyards of Beaumes-de-Venise in an attempt to finish all harvesting before the dreadful weather announced for last Monday and Tuesday. In the end, the not so distant city of Montpellier was drowned in torrential rains but we hardly got anything here - just a couple of gray days with little actual rain.

After six years in Australia and five years of city life in Avignon I moved to the countryside near the small village of Beaumes-de-Venise. Once dedicated to street photography my blog has since taken a more rural note but the beautiful region of Provence is an constant source of inspiration.